Why Pet Diet Recommendations Should Be More Than Just Selling a Bag of Dog Food

Navigating the pet food aisle at your favorite store can be daunting, and deciding where to shop in the first place isn’t much easier. There are many options, including grocery stores where we buy our own food, mass merchandisers such as Walmart and Target, and pet specialty stores such as Petco, Petsmart, and independent pet retail stores. Online retail outlets are increasingly popular for ordering pet food directly from companies that sell directly to consumers.

No matter how or where a pet parent purchases their pet’s food, having access to knowledgeable sales associates and expert support staff can be invaluable for getting the best recommendation for their pet, especially if their pet has specific dietary needs or health conditions that can be managed with the right diet. Recently, a pet food retail store had the following experience with one of its customers and the store was able to lean on BSM Veterinary for support.

The Customer

A longtime customer asked a store associate what the best diet would be for her Siberian Husky. She gave the store associate a detailed history of her dog’s skin problems, whichhad been gradually getting worse for the past several months. Her dog had excessively dry skin, and the pet parent noticed the hair coat seemed dull. She said that her dog never really itched excessively or had any skin infections, though. She told the store associate that, other than the skin problems, her dog had always been healthy and had a lot of energy. The customer said her dog always has a good appetite and that everything else about him is completely normal.

The pet parent then said that her dog has seen two veterinarians at different times to see if there was anything they could do to help her dog’s skin. The first veterinarian did several diagnostic tests, including skin scrapings for parasites and even bloodwork to check for internal organ problems such as thyroid disorders. All the testing came back as normal, and no treatment was recommended.

A few months later, when her dog’s skin seemed to be getting worse, the pet parent made an appointment with another veterinarian for a second opinion, who approached the problem differently. This veterinarian examined her dog, reviewed the history and prior testing, and recommended blood tests to evaluate for environmental allergies. Blood was drawn and sent to laboratories for testing. The test results came back that the dog was allergic to certain pollens. The option of desensitization treatment was given, or medication to help control the newly diagnosed allergies.

The Problem

As the cost of the desensitization treatments or allergy medicine was quite high and the success rate was moderate, the pet parent decided to try the allergy medication. Her dog was on the medication for six months with limited improvement in the skin and coat condition. Frustrated that she had spent a lot of time, effort, and money, the pet parent began reading about skin conditions in dogs and thought that a different diet might help. She has always fed a well-known name-brand dry dog food for all of her dog’s life, but thought that maybe there might be something better.

She chose to inquire at this retail store specifically because one of her friends had recommended it, and the diet recommendations she had received for all her pets there had worked out really well.

The Solution

The store associate listened very carefully to all the information the pet parent gave her about her dog and its history. She even took detailed notes on all the diets the dog had eaten throughout its life, as well as the veterinary visits, tests performed, and treatments recommended. The store associate told the pet parent that the store carried many special diets that might be options for her to try with her dog. But the associate said the best they could do was contact the retail store’s consulting veterinarian.

This retail chain had BSM Partners' support to help store associates and pet parents make the right dietary decisions based on their dogs’ problems and histories. The goal is to take into account the pet's history, the diet they were previously on, and any pertinent medical history to help guide the pet parent toward a good diet option based on all available information.

The store associate asked the pet parent if she would like the store to contact BSM Partners Veterinary Services for help. The pet parent agreed, and the store associate contacted BSM Partners and provided them with the pet's complete history. The BSM Partners veterinarian then contacted the pet parent directly to talk further.

After hearing more about the history of the dog’s skin problem, BSM Partners shared some clinical studies conducted on dogs with similar problems . The studies showed that diets containing higher-than-required levels of micronutrients such as zinc, certain B vitamins, and Omega-3 fatty acids led to clinical improvement in dogs with similar skin conditions. At the pet parent’s request, the BSM Partners veterinarian also reached out directly to her attending veterinarian to compare notes.

With all of this information, the BSM Partners veterinarian reviewed all diets the retailer carried in its product offering and gave the pet parent a couple of options to try with her dog. They even recommended some skin health supplements that the store offered as well.

Success!

About two months later, the pet parent contacted the retail store where she purchased her dog’s new food and told them that her dog’s skin was much better and she had not noticed him scratching at all. She shared that her dog seemed to enjoy the new diet and had plenty of energy, and she even mentioned there was less stool to clean up in her yard than with the previous food. She was extremely happy with the results and said she would recommend this retail store to all her friends and family in the future.

As pet parents, we all know there are many places to purchase the food we feed our pets. But as you can see from this particular experience, pet food stores backed by expert veterinary nutrition support, like what BSM Partners Veterinary Services provides, can offer something no algorithm or next-day delivery ever will.

Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates on all things happening here at BSM Partners.

About the Author

Dr. Bradley Quest, DVM, is the Principal Veterinarian at BSM Partners. Dr. Quest is a leading innovator in the pet dental health products, having several decades of experience formulating in this category. He has practiced clinical veterinary medicine, developed and tested hundreds of pet food and health products, performs extensive animal health research, and helps navigate pet food ingredient approval for clients.